By Vicky Lucas
Institute for Environmental Analytics
If you deal with megabytes of environmental sample data, or gigabytes of sensor data, or terabytes of model data or petabytes of remote sensing data, then I’d like you to take a survey. If you create, look after, analyse, publish on or manage datasets for global change then I’d like to find out what are the necessary and emerging skills you need.
Global change research and development are pursuits that monitor, analyse and simulate every aspect of environmental developments, from climate to biodiversity to geochemistry to the human attitude and actions on the world. For global change research to flourish, a range of skills are necessary, increasingly so in the broad area of data intensive digital skills and interdisciplinary work.
Through this survey I would like to find out about existing training programmes and opportunities that you use and value, as well as the skills that are essential in your everyday work or that would make you more efficient or more effective. Go to survey (closes 22 November).
I work for the Belmont Forum, which is a group of the world’s major and emerging funders, from the National Science Foundation in the USA, to FAPESP in Brazil to the Japan Science and Technology Agency, and everywhere in between. The Belmont Forum aims to accelerate the delivery of research. As part of the e-Infrastructure and Data Management project, I am focussed on capacity building, improving the workforce skills and knowledge to enable global change research to thrive.
If you, from anywhere in the world, have wrestled a spreadsheet, frowned at R or Python, filled your hard disk or delighted as you kicked off a month-long model run, then I’d really appreciate 10 minutes of your time to generate a few kilobytes of survey data of my own.
Vicky Lucas
Human Dimensions Champion, Belmont Forum e-Infrastructures and Data Management Project
Background on the Belmont Forum
The Belmont Forum is a group of the world’s major and emerging funders of global environmental change research. It aims to accelerate delivery of the environmental research needed to remove critical barriers to sustainability by aligning and mobilizing international resources. It pursues the goals set in the Belmont Challenge by adding value to existing national investments and supporting international partnerships in interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary scientific endeavours. You can also read about the full Belmont Challenge.
Belmont Forum Data Skills and Training Survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOKsodT4OF5lMjDpL_sq_FrNDVeK4TB7AYrlMZxGPG__8Thw/viewform